1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating an event log.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of sports broadcasting such as coverage of football matches, it is usual for commentators to identify visually players from live video footage of a match or from a vantage point in a stadium so that match statistics may be compiled about each player. Additionally, for highlights programs, information about a position of each player on a field of play and their actions on the field of play may be compiled by an operator from the recording of the live video footage using a suitable review and editing suite.
However, reviewing and editing the recorded video footage is time consuming and expensive as well as being subject to human error. Although, automated systems can be used to assist the human operator to track each player using image recognition techniques carried out on the video footage of the match, automated systems may struggle to log an event if a player is involved in a game event such as kicking a ball, tackling another player and the like.
Furthermore, annotated data regarding the position of players during a game may be used to recreate that match using a 3D virtual simulation. However, in order for the simulation to look realistic, data relating to the type of game event needs to be input to apparatus performing the simulation so that simulated players can be caused to perform suitable game actions in accordance with real events during the match.
Some systems such as that described in WO-A-02/071334 use multiple cameras to track participants in a sporting event such as a football match. Position data generated by the system may be annotated with an appropriate game by an operator using a separate list which is displayed separately from footage of the match.
However, where there are many events involved, it can be time consuming for an operator to annotate large amounts of footage due to having to select a player from the list, and confirming visually from the footage which event should be associated with the player.
The present invention seeks to alleviate or mitigate the above problems.